Sectional limousine-door.



F. i, MCAVUY- SECTIONAL LIMOUSINE DOOR. APPLICATION msn JUNE '3. 1912.

Patented July 20, 1915.

be continued upwardly rrnn ra r d. l 'XCP VOY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO LONDON AUTO SUPPLY (30.,

' OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

snorioivari miviousinn noon.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July .20, 1915.

Application filed June 3, 1912; Serial ire-701,153;

To cZZwhO-mitmag concern: I

Be it known that I, FRANKJ. MoAvoY, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sectional LimousineDoors, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description .of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the numbers of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

In those constructions in which a detac able limousine top is applied to the summer bodies of automobiles, the door construction has occasioned great trouble, inasmuch as the doors in the summer body are narrow and relatively low, and althouglr sutliciently large usually. to afford convenient ingress and egress from the body of the car when the limousine top is not in place, prove much too narrow for convenience should the same of no greater width in the limousine body. This has proven an almost insurmountable objection to the use of removable limousine bodies, inasmuch as in such constructions heretofore it has been usual to remove the doors from the summer body and substitute solid doors to close into the summer body and also the limousine culty is increased from the reason that thethe summer body are in;

l'nngedly connected with any suitable hangdoors as arranged in such close relation with the seats as to actually reduce the space'otherwise available for entry and egress.

The object of thisinvention is to afi'ord a construction whereby the ordinary and usual doors in the summer body are utilized as a lower section when the limousine body is in place thereom and a wider door afiording an upper section issecured thereto to open and close therewith to afford a large and conveniently spaced opening into the car.

It is an object of the invention also to utilize all parts of the summer body, including the doors, without any change whatever, and to mount and secure the limousine body thereon, including the wider door sections, to afford a tion. in which the operation of the relatively small lower door section serves to simul- "In the drawings: Figure l'is a doors embodying my invention.

'tached in any convenient way the rear edge. of the lower door sections,

means of a suitable cap wind and water-proof construe-- taneously operate the larger upper door sec ion. The invention (in its preferred form) is ll'lustrated in the drawings and hereinafter more fully described. I side-elevation of an automobile equipped with a summer body and having mounted thereon a detachable .limousine body provided with Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary side elevation, partly broken away, to illustrate the mutual engagement of the doors.

Fig. 3 1s a fragmentary section on line 8'-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section on line H of Fig. 2.

As shown in the drawings: 1, indicates the summer body of the automobile, provided with doors 2, of the usual or any preferred construction. Mounted thereon and detachably secured to the summer body, is a removable limousine top 3, which may be atto the summer body to afford a secure engagement therewith. Said limousine body is provided with a rear door section hand a front door section 5, each arranged above the corresponding door or door section 2, in the summer body, but sufliciently wider than the same to afford convenient ingress and egress from the body ofthe car for the users thereof. In the construction shown, in which the lower door sections 2, open or swing rearwardly, the upper or limousine door sections 4: and 5, are offset or extend rearwardly-beyong with the front edges of the lower door sections or forwardly beyond'the same, as preferred, although usually the front or swinging edges of the door sections are arrange in alinement, as it is thought that a better appearance is afforded thereby.

A downwardly opening groove or slot, indicated by 7, is provided in the bottom rail of the limousine door sections 4 and 5, and engaged therein is a roller 8, secured by screw or bolt'9, which extends through said roller and into the top of the lower door section 2, thus positively but movably connecting the respective' upper door sections with; the corresponding lower door sectlons. lock or latch, indicated by 10, is provided in the usual manner on each of the lower door sectio s 2, or those in the summer body.

he operation is as follows: Vhen it is desired to open the doors, the latch or look 10, is actuated and the lower door section 2, is swung open, swinging the upper door section simultaneously thereby, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, to open position, owing to the movable connection between the doors afiorded by the roller 8, engaging in the groove in the b tom of the upper door section. As the oors swing rear-- wardly, both door sections are opened to any desired extent, the movement in the lower door section necessitating corresponding movement in the upper .door section, thus enabling the passenger to enter or leave the car as conveniently as though the entire door were of the width of the relativelywide upper door section. Of'course, the difference in width of said door sections may be as great as desired or necessity may require,.for it is obvious that owing to the movable connection between the doors, movement in one must necessi ate corresponding movement in the other to the same or a proportional degree. Obviously, in closing the door, when the lower door section is closed and latched, the upper door section also is brought and held in closed position, so that both door sections are operated as desired by actuating the latch for oneof the same.

Of course, it is to be understood that details of the construction may be varied. I have shown but one (and that a preferred) embodiment of my invention, and I do not purpose limiting the patent granted on this application otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device of the class described a sectional door embracing a relatively narrow lower door section and a wider upper door section, hinges for each sec-tion mounted out of alinement with one another, means physically connecting .said door sections necessitating simultaneous and corresponding movement in both, and a latch on one of said sections acting to control both.

2. In a device of the class described a relatively narrow lower door section and a latch thereon, a wider upper door section, hinges for said respective sections mounted parallel and out of alinement, a longitudinal guide in the rail of one of said door sections, and a roller journaled on the meeting rail of the other, and projecting into engagement with the guide and acting to movably connect the door sections to permit both to be operated and controlled by the latch simultaneously.

3. In a device of the class described a hinged relatively narrow lower door'section, a latch thereon, a wider upper section, hmges for each door section-disposed out of alinement with one another, said upper door 7 section closing in substantially the same plane with the lower door section, and having a downwardly opening groove extending longitudinally of its bottoni' rail, anda roller ournaled on the top of the lower door section and projecting into said groove,.the

sides of which afford guides therefor where-- by the operation of the lower door section necessitates like simultaneous operation of the upper door section and whereby said latch-controls both door sections.

4. In a device of the class described doors .of unequal width mounted one above theother and adapted to swing on diii'erent axes and means connecting and adapting the sameto open and close simultaneously.

5. In a device of the class described, a

plurality of offset door sections one disposed 1 and permitting a limited movement of one section relatively to the other section.

In testimony whereof 'I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK J. MCAVOY. lVitnesses:

CHARLES XV. HILLS, Jr CHAS. A. mm.- 

